KERRY

Irish Ciarra county in the province of Munster, southwestern Ireland. With an area of 1,815 square miles (4,701 square km), it is bounded by Counties Limerick and Cork to the east and by the Atlantic Ocean or its inlets to the south, west, and north. Tralee is the county seat. The principal highlands of Kerry, among which are the highest mountains in Ireland, are of sandstone. Three, and part of a fourth, of the six Atlantic peninsulas of southwestern Ireland are in Kerry. These consist of mountainous ridges, in places intersected by deep valleys and generally surrounded by lowlands. The four peninsulas are: the Kerry Head peninsula, the most northerly, 7 miles (11 km) long; the Dingle peninsula, which extends for nearly 40 miles (64 km) from Tralee to the Blasket Islands; the Iveragh peninsula, 30 miles (48 km) long and 15 miles (24 km) wide, which continues the line of hills from western County Cork to Valencia Island; and the Beara peninsula, the most southerly one. The highest points on the peninsulas include Baurtregaum (2,798 feet ) and Brandon Mountain (3,127 feet ) on the Dingle peninsula and Carrantoohill (3,414 feet ) and Mangerton (2,756 feet ) on the Iveragh peninsula. The winters in Kerry are mild; vegetation grows throughout the year, livestock may be pastured in winter, and the woods of Killarney have arbutus trees of Mediterranean origin. Annual rainfall is high, and some of the deep peat bogs have remnants of forests dating from drier climatic phases. Kerry has numerous prehistoric remains. Church sites of antiquity include Ardfert Cathedral and medieval monastic churches at Aghadoe and Muckross (founded 1448). The name Kerry is derived from Ciar (son of Fergus, king of Ulster), whose descendants occupied this part of Munster. Kerry was divided in 1127 between the O'Brien kingdom of Thomond, or North Munster, and the MacCarthy kingdom of Desmond, or South Munster; but with the coming of the Anglo-Norman invaders in the 13th century this area and a large part of Cork fell to the Fitzgeralds. After an unsuccessful revolt and the ruin of the Fitzgeralds of Desmond, Kerry fell within the scope of the plantation of Munster, begun in 1586. The Cromwellian and Williamite settlements further transformed the ownership of Kerry, which was modified again by the land acts of the 19th and 20th centuries. Kerry's Gaelic speakers are concentrated on the Dingle peninsula. Approximately one-third of the people live in towns and villages, the largest of which are Tralee and Killarney. In the peninsulas settlement is confined to the lowlands and some interior valleys, many of which are covered with peat bogs. Two-thirds of the farms are smaller than 50 acres (20 hectares). Oats and potatoes are the main crops, with young cattle and sheep the main cash resources. At Tralee are bacon-curing and boot factories, and Killarney (q.v.) has a footwear factory but relies mainly on market and tourist income. There is an engineering industry and crane manufacture. Other towns are small trading centres, and fishing is of some significance at Dingle and Valencia. Pop. (1986) 124,159.